Health Information Exchange

The high cost of healthcare continues to rise and many in the United States are optimistic for health information technology to reduce and improve our current situation. Health IT encompasses a broad array of new technologies designed to manage and share health-related information. When properly implemented, these systems can help coordinate patient care, reduce medical errors, and improve administrative efficiency. Therefore, implementing a Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO) will help the National Health Information Network (NHIN) achieve their goals in improving quality of care for the citizens of the United States. Thus, in order for the health IT to deliver on its promise, several obstacles must be overcome.

Keeping patients safe is essential in today’s health care system, but patient safety events that violate that safety are increasing each year. It was only recently, that the focus on patient safety was reinforced by a report prepared by Institute of medicine (IOM) entitled ” To err is human, building a safer health system”(Wakefield & Iliffe,2002).This report found that approx-imately 44,000 to 98,000 deaths occur each year due to medical errors and that the majority was preventable. Deaths due to medical errors exceed deaths due to many other causes such as like HIV infections, breast cancer and even traffic accidents (Wakefield & Iliffe, 2002). After this IOM reports, President Clinton established quality interagency

Patient safety is of major concern in healthcare settings due to the preventable nature of events that sometimes lead to serious injury, and even death, for patients. This was catapulted to the forefront of healthcare delivery in 1999 when the Institute of Medicine wrote a scathing report; To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System, that highlighted "the lack of safety for patients in healthcare organizations" (Ulrich and Kear 2014). The National Patient Safety

The Health Information Exchange has proven to be convenient and beneficial in essence of improving patient and health professionals’ ability to access patient medical histories and records by providing quicker, more reliable access. There have been some challenges recognized with the implementation of the health information exchange. While speeding up the process of retrieval of sensitive medical records has been a blessing, the process of electronic delivery of medical records has also been seen by some as risky. The electronic health information exchange allows health care providers to release vital private patient healthcare information via

Each year medical errors cause more than 400,000 American deaths and at least 10-20 times that number experience serious harm. Researchers say that is equivalent to “three 747 airplanes crashing each day.” Medical errors rank as the third-leading cause of death in America. Therefore, patient safety is a national concern.

When the Institute of Medicine came out with a report called To Err Is Human it drew a lot of attention to the media on patient safety because of the statistics that the report found. One of the big things that this report found was that "between 44,000 and 98,000 people died each year in the United States hospitals due to medical errors and adverse events" (Bonacum, 2017, p. 3). This was also one of the reasons why the Healthcare Research and Quality Act of 1999 passed. This act allowed research to be done using scientific evidence and report things such as effectiveness, outcomes, costs, quality, etc. in the health care field ("Healthcare Research and Quality Act of 1999," 2014). It is a good thing that the Institute of Medicine came out with this report because it made patient safety a very important issue that needed to be resolved, it was definitely an eye opener. The above number of people dying because of medical errors is surprisingly high, if I did my math correctly that’s about 122-272 people dying each day. Wow! There are other factors that

Electronic health information exchange (HIE) allows doctors, nurses, pharmacists, other health care providers and patients to appropriately access and securely share a patient’s vital medical information electronically. With improving the value, speed, safety, and cost of the totals patient care.

It is important to understand the history of how the healthcare industry decided to embrace the use of computer databases. Typically healthcare was often the last to employ new technology; especially when it came to assembling and disseminating data. As a Director of HIM (Health Information Management) it would be beneficial to remember this as there will undoubtedly be some resistance when attempting to implement new and improved systems to track everything from patient outcomes and laboratory tests to prescriptions and medications.

In 1999, the Institute of Medicine published the famous "To Err Is Human" report, which dropped a bombshell on the medical community by reporting that up to 98,000 people a year die because of mistakes in hospitals. (NPR) A study in the September 2013 issue of the Journal of Patient Safety says that the number may be much higher – between 210,000 and 440,000 patients each year who go to the hospital for care suffer from some type of preventable hard that contributes to their death.

Health information exchange (HIE) is the process of transporting medical-related information electronically between healthcare providers. Health information exchange was formed by the Hartford Foundation in 1990, with the establishment of Community Health Management Information Systems (CHMIS). Today, there are many models and forms that support health information exchange. Healthcare providers and organizations may have challenges with this new way of exchanging patient information, however, there are plenty of advantages that not only benefit the providers but the patients as well.

Health Information Exchange is the electronic movement of healthcare information amongst organizations according to the national standards. HIE as it is widely known, serves the purpose of providing a safe, timely, and efficient way of accessing or retrieving patient clinical data. Health Information Exchange allows for doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other vital healthcare professionals to have appropriate access and securely share vital medical information regarding patient care. Health Information Exchange has been in efforts of developing for over 20 years in the United States. In 1990 the Community Health Management Information Systems (CHMIS) program was formed by the Hartford Foundation to foster a development of a centralized data repository in seven different geographically defined communities. Many of the communities struggled in securing a cost-effective technology with interoperable data sources and gaining political support. In the mid-1990s a similar initiative began known as the Community Health Information Networks (CHINs) with the intention of sharing data between providers in a more cost-effective manner. In 2004, the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research Health Information Technology Portfolio was funded $166 million in grants and contracts to improve the quality and safety to support more patient-centered care. This was the beginning of the progress we have seen in HIE today. Health Information Exchange devolvement serves the purpose of improving

Health information technology (HIT) involves trading of health information in an electronic format to advance health care, reduce health expenditures, improve work efficiency, decrease medication errors, and make health care more accessible. Maintaining privacy and security of health information is crucial when technology is involved. Health information exchange plays an important role in improving the quality and delivery of health care and cost-effectiveness. “There is very little electronic information sharing among clinicians, hospitals, and other providers, despite considerable investments in health information technology (IT) over the past five years” (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2014, p. 1).

Health information exchange and information technology are essential tools that healthcare providers and consumers often utilize to assist in improving health care. An electronic health information exchange promises potential benefits for health care systems through improved clinical care, reduced cost and the needed elements for a national health information network. As with any other industry, the exchange of such information has its many benefit, but it

In today’s health care system, “quality” and “safety” are one in the same when it comes to patient care. As Florence Nightingale described our profession long ago, it takes work and vigilance to ensure we are doing the best we can to care for our patients. (Mitchell, 2008)

Issues related to a lack of patient safety have been going on for a lot of years now. Throughout the first decade of the 21st century, there has been a national emphasis on cultivating patient safety. Patient safety is a global issue, that touches countries at all levels of expansion and is one of the nation's most determined health care tests. According to the Institute of Medicine (1999), they have measured that as many as 48,000 to 88,000 people are dying in U.S. hospitals each year as the result of lapses in patient safety. Estimates of the size of the problem on this are scarce particularly in developing countries; it is likely that millions of patients worldwide could suffer disabling injuries or death every year due to unsafe medical care. Risk and safety have always been uninterruptedly been significant concerns in the hospital industry. Patient safety is a very much important part of our health care system and it really